Monday, December 10, 2007

Movie Review of Kalloori.

Movie Name: Kalloori
Cast: Tamanna and newcomers.
Director: Balaji Sakthivel.

I had booked the tickets for Kalloori based on the reputation of Balaji Sakhtivel's massive hit "Kadhal". When I came out after the movie, I would say I was generally satisfied. The reason behind "generally satisfied" is due to high expectation we (meaning the public) had on Balaji Sakhtivel. I had come to the movie looking for a riveting performance and an equally turnaround climax.

Now, on to the movie.... Almost all of characters are new faces to silver screen except the lead girl Tamanna. She is like an "Angel" in this film. 9 friends, both boys and girls from a school join the govt arts college after their 12th Std. They are close friends who have studied together right from their childhood and everyone has one or other family problems. When they are together in the school/college they forget about their family lives and enjoy themselves. Shobana (Tamanna), a fair girl, not belonging to the town has joined govt. arts college on temp basis, waiting for admission in a different college at Delhi. There is absolute difference between Tamanna and her classmates in terms with knowledge and look.

She gets acquainted with these 9 friends and they accept her as one of them. The journey starts from there.... the screenplay is solid as the movie goes on stage by stage. The things we have done in college, the friendship all are portrayed with ease and actually we go back to our college lives. At a point of time when things are going smooth, the hero, Muthu falls in love with Shobana due to the thoughts instilled by some characters. After that he is not able to get along with Shobana thinking about his status and her status. Shobana falls in love when she knows about Muthu's family conditions and she is not able to get along with Muthu after that. So, its a kind of delicate intimacy which sorrounds these two characters and the performance from lead roles is really very good.

The college ragging, eating together with friends under tree shade, sports function, college choir and intercollege competition, fighting with friends, misunderstanding with friends, mischevious in class all these have occured in our life which we see it on screen. There was especially two characters who come together, walk together and speak together. It was a good comedy done by both these cartoons all thru the college.

The screenplay flows like a steady stream of river with no stones unturned and the climax is a sudden jerk not a sudden fall like a big waterfall. When the river suddenly stops we feel... is this it?.....no, I think that life is not like this.... there must be a big steep fall, run thru the stones with great speed, steady the flow with the ground level, then join the sea with a good flow. But this does not happen in Kalloori, hence satisfied but not fed enough. The climax is shocking but we dont feel the shock because of the steady screenplay. For about two hours or so we do not see any untoward incidents except a party rally violence when they are studying in college, so we actually dont feel the shock as it should have been.

Its a good movie and I hope it will run through in southern districts. I dont think the college students in metro city like Chennai have experienced this kind of incidents. They have friendship though but I dont see they can relate with themselves. This kind of college friends and happenings can only be seen in town/village colleges. I can relate to my own friends in college, we were great friends both boys and girls. Now, every bird has chosen its own destination.

I would like to see comments from students who studied in metro college and from town colleges. Lets see whether they are different.

Plus: Screenplay, Natural acting, Tamanna.
Minus: Somewhere along it becomes like a stage drama due to the fact that no new characters are introduced.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Review of Tamil Movie: Polladhavan...

Movie Name: Polladavan
Cast: Dhanush, Ramya, Karunaas, Santhanam, Banupriya and others.
Directed by: Vetri Maran.

The review title says it all... it is a simple movie that happens in our, every other neighbourhood. Friends, Family and a love on bus for more than a year. The events depicted in the movie should have happened to everyone at some stage of their life until the hero clashes with the villians.

Dhanush or Prabu has portrayed the character with ease and elan. He is a bike lover and wants to own a bike someday but the financial burden in the family does not allow him to buy his dream bike. The story moves on with his friends and the girl he loves for a while and when there is fight between father and son at one time, Prabus' father gives some money. With the money Prabu gets his own dream bike and with that he gets a decent job. All are happy and his love life also starts blooming. I must mention here the remix of 'Engeyum Eppodum'.... it is youthful song and the theatre was frenzy for this song.... I thought of asking Once More.... it had electrifying effect. Surely this must become a super hit of 2007.

After a while, Prabus' bike is stolen and used for illegal business. He goes in search of his bike nook and corner of the city, lands in trouble with the local dada's brother. Thereafter it is a cat and mouse game between Daniel Balaji and Dhanush. Selvam, the local dada impressed very much.... I believe the local dada's are like him.... dada's don't disturb the public at any time, they do not interfere in public' life. I dont remember the actor name who did Selvam but he was terrific. Kudos to the actor and director.

A few words about the director and I will sign off.... In a simple story how can the director make it racy and enjoyable?. Well, Vetri Maran has done the trick.... he uses a two way narrative story telling.... one from hero's point of view and the other from Daniel Balaji's view... both the views are handled superbly. We are transformed into their worlds when they tell their point of story.... Its good and different. Virumaandi was handled on two different view points but it was not successful. The credit goes to the director who has etched out the characters and plots very well. A big cheers to you Vetri Maran. Well Done!!.

The music is good and racy although the item number could have been avoided. Camera work was neat and cool. All round it was an entertaining movie.

Go and watch in theatres if you have not seen already!!!!!.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Review of Katrathu Tamil - Tamil M.A.

Movie Name: Katrathu Tamil alias Tamil M.A.
Casts: Jeeva and Others.
Director: Ram

There was lot of hype about this movie on pre-release and heard that Jeeva was saying this movie will take Tamil movie to the next level.

At the outset if I want to think of this movie and write a review... I would say I am confused or rather mused. What does the director wants to convey us?. Is there any content in this feature film?. I cannot put this film in any category.... it is not an art film...it is not a commercial movie... its not a tender lover story.... its not a drama genre... the film is a protagonist view of the modern society and himself.

The story is narrated by the hero to a TV cameraman who is captured by him to record his story. Hope you get it.... Jeeva has fitted into the role of Prabakar although the narration of story is in a way zig-zag... and so does the screenplay. It is weird moving through the film and thoroughly I cannot understand.... maybe its too heavy for me.

I hope you will all agree that humans relate things.... our eyes associate or relate with whatever we see in front of us. In this movie I still could not relate things.... its like a puzzle which cannot be completed.... cant be fitted together. Is this what the director wants us to do after 3 hrs of the film?. If life itself is a puzzle then we relate to our destiny..... even if there is no destiny in sight atlease most of accept fate... which itself is a destiny.

There is actually no plot... the movie wanders around the life of Prabakar from his childhood to the present level of being a psycopath. He loves his childhood friend Anandhi and sometimes he goes in search and after sometime he turns to psycopath before returning to normal. The events happened in his life are told in a hapazard manner... and thats really confusing. If the director intention is to leave the audience mused he has succeeded 100%.. there is no question about that. The other thing that leaves on my mind he has made me to think about the weird screenplay which no other movie has done. I think I need to see this movie once or twice to understand the flow. Maybe I will do and come back, write a full review then.

The music is good and background thumps you at certain scenes. The acting part is done well by all the characters. The character background and sketches are OK but too thin. I am still not convinced to say it is a good film or bad film.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

New Day...

Its a new... fresh day. Its Thursday, 20 Sep 2007 and I had planned to attend the CII Logistics 2007 conference which is being held in Chennai, India. But I have to miss the conference as I have important assignments to complete at office... I really wanted to attend this conference. Its a bad miss...I think.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Review of Tamil Movie 'Satham Podathey'

Movie Name: Satham Podathey
Casts: Padmapriya, Nitin Satya, Prithiviraj and others.
Director: SM Vasanth.

On the opening credits the movie shows "an sm vasanth film".... rather it should be "a sm vasanth film"... I do not know how they got this idea!!!.. Strange.

I had read reviews about the film and bought the tickets.... simply because "Ram Gopal Varma ki AAG".... hope you know about the film AAG!!!..

Satham Podathey is a thriller genre with twists and turns... the movie revolves around the heroine Padmapriya.... the director shows that with such a simple story he can make his audience bring to edge of the seats!!!.. Brilliant. On the down side... its the songs that dampens the pace... although you dont see songs in the latter half of the movie. Since there are only few characters in the whole movie it tends slightly towards drama genre... which cannot be helped though.

The story goes like this... Padmapriya gets married to Nitin Satya (a brilliant performance) who is alcoholic psychopath and impotent. Nitin Satya finally gives divorce after Padmapriya is well beaten by him.... must mention the roaring of Nitin Satya when he beats Padmapriya.... there is no violence shown on screen but the acting by Nitin Satya sends chill in your spine.... After quite sometime Padmapriya moves with her brother (dont know exactly where!!) and meeting with Prithiviraj she becomes relaxed, starts to forget her past life. Prithiviraj shows that he can excel in comedy roles too... the dialogues help him to build his character and he does his part with elan.

Later Prithiviraj and Padmapriya get married... settle down.. and this is where the twists and turns begin. The touch of K.Balachander can be seen throughout the whole movie....split shots are used often in the later half which builds the exictement.

The motive behind Nitin Satya abducting Padmapriya is not well defined... so the movie wanders around for a while before the climax starts to set in.

A good tamil movie after a long time without any 'kuthu' song... you know what I mean. Great screenplay, editing could have been better, good score by Yuvan and fine actors lift the film to great heights.

Go see the movie if you like drama/thriller.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Destiny.

It has been in my mind for the past few days!!!. Is there a destiny? or do we have destiny or each and every thing (note: thing) has its own destiny?.

What happens if you achieve your destiny?

Personally I dont believe in destiny..... If I say our life is like a river with streams and falls the destiny is the Ocean..... If it is ocean then the destiny is to hit the shores.... so I dont want to believe in destiny.

Sriram